Beautiful Mess
by moviegeek03
Summary: Blaine wasn't prepared. If he had known that slushie was coming, he most definitely would have packed a tube of hair gel that morning. (Warning for bullying & references to spoilers for the beginning of Season 4 & season 3's Michael)


Title: Beautiful Mess

Fill request for: Himaryan

Prompt: Fluffy haired Blaine

Rating: PG-13

Warnings/Spoilers: Bullying; Spoilers for the beginning of Season 4 and season 3's Michael

Word Count: 4600

Summary: Blaine wasn't prepared. If he had known that slushie was coming, he most definitely would have packed a tube of hair gel that morning.

A/N: Wasn't completely sure what to do with the prompts at first, but after talking with my beta purplehrdwonder this came to mind. I hope it is ok for the original prompt!

The halls were obnoxiously loud. Blaine hadn't noticed it all that much last year. He had been too distracted by Kurt talking animatedly about his new Versace pants he had found on Ebay for half the price or what colors he could use for his New York apartment. Kurt had always found a way to drown out the noise and annoyance of the overcrowded McKinley halls. But Kurt wasn't there anymore…

With a sigh Blaine started to push his way through the throng of students towards his locker. At least there he could take a breath, look at his favorite picture of Kurt, and mentally prepare himself for the boring classes and dumb jocks that were to fill his afternoon. At least there was glee club at the end of the day to boost his spirits a little.

He sidestepped a large pile of blue liquid and smiled apologetically at the janitor cleaning up the mess. He knew that slushies were a bitch to clean up, even if he had never done it himself. He had been too doped up on pain pills to bother with his clothes after the Sebastian debacle, and Kurt had needed something to keep him distracted at the time. But he had heard time and time again from the glee kids how awful the liquid stained.

Blaine's phone chirped from inside his cardigan's pocket just as he opened his locker. He nearly dropped all the books he had planned on putting away in his haste to grab it, hoping that it would be Kurt texting him. He hadn't talked to Kurt for two days and was looking forward to their planned Skype session later that night, but a text or two during the day would help to get through the last of his classes. But when he looked on the screen, it wasn't Kurt's name blinking; it was Sam asking about a superhero movie marathon at the Cineplex that weekend.

After sending a halfhearted reply back to Sam, he shoved the rest of his books into his locker and gathered up the ones he needed for the rest of the day.

"Hey," Tina greeted as she came up behind him. She gently bumped shoulders with him as she started her locker combination. Artie appeared a few seconds later, sliding into the locker below hers.

"Hey," Blaine sighed. His phone buzzed again with another enthusiastic message from Sam. Not even Sam's description of possible costumes they should wear was enough to bring a smile to his face.

"Dude, what's up?" Artie asked, eying Blaine warily. "You look worse than that time Finn blew his nose with your bowtie because he thought it handkerchief."

"He did what?" Tina gasped.

"I was at their house with Kurt and had taken it off. Had left it downstairs on the table and he didn't realize what it was since it wasn't tied in the normal shape." Blaine ran a hand over his face and glanced at his phone again. "But I'm fine. I promise."

"You don't look it," Tina continued with a sympathetic smile. "Have you not talked to Kurt today?"

Blaine slumped against the lockers. "No…haven't for a few days."

"Are you two ok?" Artie questioned slowly.

"Yeah, we're fine," Blaine replied. "He's just been busy with his new internship and I had a pile of homework. So we kept missing each other. But we have a Skype date set for tonight."

"That's good," Tina sighed in relief. "You'll be able to fill him in on the fight that Schue and Coach Sylvester have been having all week."

"Yeah, I've been wanting to tell him about—"

Before Blaine could finish his sentence, something freezing and wet slammed into the side of his head. He tensed, realizing it was familiar…something he'd felt in a parking garage just a few months ago. He started shaking, whether from the cold or the memories he wasn't sure. It made him slump against his locker, his arms flailing out to grab onto something so he could stay somewhat upright. The dye burned his eyes, and he half expected to open them to see the blood red liquid pooling around him once again. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't writhing in agony with a sea of red surrounding him and that there were hands on his arms and laughter echoing through the halls.

"Blaine?" Tina's voice sounded extremely worried. He could feel her nails running soothingly along his back as she brushed some of the icier chunks of the slushy off his sweater.

"Blaine? Can you hear me?" Artie bumped his wheelchair into Blaine's legs as he tried to move closer to check on his friend.

Blaine groaned a little and rubbed some of the offending beverage away from his eyes. "Was really hoping I'd never have to deal with this again." He blinked his eyes open, but quickly shut them as more sticky syrup and frigid slush slid into them.

"Oh my God!" Tina gasped. Blaine painfully opened his eyes again. Tina was staring directly into them with concerned on her face. She broke her gaze to share a look with Artie and Blaine could tell they were both worried. "Come on, sweetie, let's go clean you up."

"But you guys have class. The bell's going to ring soon. Go ahead. I-"

"No way!" Artie argued, shaking his head vigorously. "Besides, we have lots of practice with cleaning this up. You'll be good as new in no time!"

Blaine wanted to argue, but Tina started pulling on his arm and he really didn't want Artie to start nudging him with the wheels of his chair, so he gave in. Once he started walking, he realized just how hard it was to see. His vision, while nowhere near as damaged as it had been during his first slushy, was still blurred. The more he walked the more the more obvious it became that he did need their help, unless he wanted to bump back into the very people who probably did this to him in the first place.

"Here we go, Blaine." Tina tugged on his arm as she opened the door to the girl's bathroom. Artie wheeled around them and turned the water on so that it could warm up for Blaine, who was shivering rather violently. Before Blaine could say anything, Tina gently shoved his head under the faucet and started washing out the slushie.

"I still have some of that shampoo in my bag, Tina," Artie offered, already pulling it out and handing it to Tina.

"Great! His head is covered!"

Blaine wanted to remind them that he was still in the room at that he really didn't want his gel washed out, but before he could Tina was lathering up his slicked back hair. He could feel the last of the gel sliding down onto his forehead before dripping into the sink. His grip on the sink tightened as he realized how frizzy and fluffy his hair would be when she was finished.

He suddenly felt Artie's glove covered hand rubbing at his tense arm. He hadn't realized Artie had moved closer to the sink. He was too busy worrying over the state of his hair.

"It's ok, Blaine," Artie said softly. "You're ok."

Blaine opened his mouth to reply but was met with a gush of water and soap that left him gagging and sputtering.

"Keep your mouth closed, Bee," Tina instructed. "But you should rinse out your eyes."

Blaine moaned a little as he blinked his eyes open and shut a few times, allowing the water to rinse out the slushie. It stung, but not nearly as bad as his experience with Sebastian's. It still worried him though given the previous injury and subsequent surgery. There was still scar tissue in his right eye and it still felt sensitive to irritants. He would have to remember to grab some eye drops on the way home and call his optometrist at some point.

Blaine jerked a little as the water became too hot against his eyes. Tina's hands stilled in his hair as she felt him move. "Shh…you're ok," she said soothingly. "I'm sorry. We're almost done!"

Blaine nodded and let her finish. It wasn't long before the water was shut off and a towel replaced Tina's hands. Blaine once again groaned, only this time at the feel of his hair becoming fluffier with each swipe of the towel. He knew that the way she was drying his hair would only make it frizzier…and there was nothing he could do about it. But it could have been worse. Blaine kept trying to remind himself that.

After a few minutes, Tina stepped back and set the towel down on the sink. She eyed him warily as he blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision.

"Blaine?" she prodded. She looked like she wanted to do something. Artie wasn't much better, Blaine noticed. He was fidgeting in his wheelchair, wheeling forward a little only to stop and move back.

Blaine shook his head and blinked again. His vision finally cleared enough that Tina was no longer a blob of color. He smiled, hoping to ease her obvious concern. "I'm fine. At least there wasn't rock salt this time."

"Do you want me to go get the nurse? Or Miss Pillsbury?" Artie asked, still looking worried.

"No, thank you," Blaine replied. "I'm fine, really. My eye feels, well it doesn't feel great but it doesn't feel like it did with Sebastian's slushie."

"Are you sure?" Tina continued.

"Positive," he promised with a charming grin. "My eyesight will survive." For the first time since he had felt the cold beverage dripping down his head, he noticed just how much had landed on his sweater. He hadn't even realized what color the slushie had been. "My clothes on the other hand…"

"Yeah, blue stains are a bitch," Artie said in sympathy. "Give me your locker combination and I'll go grab your backups from it."

Blaine's brow furrowed in confusion. "Backups?"

"Yeah, your backup outfit." Artie glanced up to Blaine's already poofy curls; he bit his lip to stop from laughing. "And backup gel I'm assuming."

Blaine's eyes widened and he quickly turned back towards the mirror, so quickly in fact he nearly slipped in some of the water and slushie that had accumulated on the floor. He wanted to scream at the sight that met him in the mirror. His hair looked just as bad as it had at prom… Hell, it may have looked worse if he was being honest with himself.

The fine curls were none too happy at the rough treatment they had endured. They stuck up and out in various directions, making quite the afro. The hair was still damp, so it would surely be worse once it finished air drying. All in all, it was a far cry from the dapper gelled look Blaine had painstakingly fixed that morning and there was nothing he could do to fix it. He was pretty much screwed.

"Blaine? You sure you're ok?" Tina asked, finally breaking Blaine out of his panic.

He stepped away from the mirror, handing his head and nervously running his hand through his hair. The action would only make the afro worse, but Blaine was too busy freaking out to notice.

"I don't have any backups in my locker. I didn't know to."

"Oh, Blaine!" Tina gasped. "I thought everybody in glee kept a backup on hand! After the huge slushie fest during our first year…oh…" Blaine gave her a look as she remembered he hadn't been there that year.

"So you didn't put stuff in your locker after you were slushied the first time?" Artie asked. His tone made it obvious that he was shocked that Blaine hadn't thought to do that.

"Of course not," Blaine replied with an eye roll that quickly turned into a wince as his sore right eye protested. "I've never been slushied at school."

"Damn," Artie huffed. "Didn't think about that." He dug his cellphone out of his pocket. "I'll see if Sam has some extra t-shirts in his. They should fit you better than mine."

"Thank you," Blaine sagged in relief. At least he wouldn't have to go around school with an afro _and_ blue stained clothes. He would just have to deal with the hair.

"But you don't have any gel?" Tina asked as she tried not to stare at the fluffy mess on top of his head.

Blaine just bit his lip and shook his head no.

"It…it doesn't look…I mean it-"

"It's ok, Tina," Blaine sighed. "You don't have to say it looks good. I know how it looks."

"It really isn't that bad, man," Artie attempted to reassure. However, any attempts to make Blaine feel better about his hair were quickly squashed when a girl opened the bathroom door. In their rush to get the dye and ice out from Blaine's eyes, Tina and Artie had apparently forgotten to lock the main door.

The girl thankfully wasn't a Cheerio or part of the popular crowd from what Blaine could tell. So instead of any snide remarks, he only had to put up with a lot of staring and giggling. The girl at least had the sense to not laugh loudly until after she had walked back out into the hallway. It didn't matter though. It made Blaine want to crawl into the corner and hide out for the rest of the school day.

"Don't listen to her," Tina spoke up insistently. "You are still as handsome as ever." She carefully leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, smoothing his hair down in the process. "We'll figure something out. I promise."

Blaine knew first hand just how hard it was to tame the curls when they were in this state, but he wasn't going to argue. He just hoped Tina could figure something out for him and quick.

~0~

In the end, it didn't matter how much Tina promised he looked fine or how much she tried to slick his hair back with water to get the curls to not be as fluffy. If anything, all the touching actually made it worse. It looked as if he had a fluffy bush on top of his head, and everyone seemed to be noticing the change.

Even Sam couldn't hide his shock when he brought his spare clothes to the bathroom. At least he managed to recover quickly and offered to go steal the wizard hat from the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons club for him to wear. While Blaine appreciated the offer, and may have cracked a smile at it, he worried that would only make things worse. Sam smiled sympathetically and clapped him on the shoulder before hurrying off to his own class.

In the halls, Blaine was subjected to stares and giggling from almost everyone he passed. Some of the jocks nearly doubled over with laughter at the sight until Artie _accidentally_ ran over their feet with his wheelchair. It didn't matter though. No matter how many times Artie or Tina tried to intervene, there was always someone pointing, whispering, or giggling where he walked.

Things didn't get any better once he made it to his class either. He noticed Jacob Ben Israel sneak a few pictures with his phone before the teacher walked into the room. Blaine groaned and head desked in his frustration. He knew that picture would end up plastered all over Jacob's blog and God only knew what else by the next morning.

The rest of his day went about the same. He listened to the comments and tried to ignore the stares. By the time he made it to glee, he was ready for a break from everyone else in the school and was looking forward to being with his friends. At least he was until he actually walked into the choir room…

He had forgotten just how few of them had actually seen him at prom last year. Once again, he was greeted to a great deal of staring and gaping at his fluffy fro. Marley's eyes were comically wide as she took him in. Unique wasn't much better; she kept opening her mouth to speak and closing it as if she didn't know what to say.

Even the older members seemed shocked and confused.

"Did a Chia Pet decide to crawl on top of your head and die?" Sugar asked. Artie shushed her and shook his head, but she continued to look at Blaine like he was crazy.

"Be nice," Tina snapped. Blaine flashed her a small smile and squeezed her hand in thanks as he passed. He had just taken his normal seat when Brittany walked in and stopped almost immediately at the sight of him.

"Woah!" she gasped. "When did the kid with the bad fro from prom come back to school? I thought he graduated!"

"Brit, its just Blaine, remember?" Sam explained, pulling her towards her seat.

"Oh! Right! I forgot you're a broccoli head without your gel!"

Blaine leaned his head back against the chair and groaned. "This is insane. I'm just going to go home. Can you guys cover for me with Mr. Schue?" He rubbed at his eye a little as he spoke. It had started to hurt a bit more. It felt itchy and burning all at once; it kept watering, still trying to clear out the slushie

"No!" Joe said, standing up and walking towards Blaine. "You should stay! There is nothing wrong with your hair. It's really cool to see you how God made you." Joe flashed Blaine a big smile and clapped him on the shoulder.

Blaine had to admit that the comment did make him feel a little better. It brought back memories of Kurt dancing with him at prom and saying he was proud to be with him, bushy hair and all.

"Blaine?" Marley started, breaking him out of his reminiscing. "Can I ask what happened? I didn't think you liked your hair without gel?"

"I don't," Blaine huffed. "But someone decided to throw a slushie at my head and Tina had to wash all my gel out to get the blue slushie out of my hair." Blaine rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. "I've never been slushied at school so I didn't think to have gel or clothes in my locker. I should have. It was stupid not to. I mean, the slushies have been worse this year and—HMPH!" Blaine sputtered as Marley cut him off with a hug.

"What about your eye?" Brittany asked to his surprise.

"It looks really red, Blaine," Sam added, leaning forward and looking at it closely.

"I know," Blaine sighed. "It kind of hurts, but not like it did last time. If it gets worse during rehearsal I'll swing by my doctor's before going home." That answer seemed to placate his friend's worry.

Marley, who was still beside him, suddenly started to frantically dig around in her bag. "Yes!" she exclaimed after a few moments. She quickly pulled something out, but it was a blur to Blaine. He didn't realize what it was until she was tugging it down onto his head.

"A beanie?"

"Yep." Marley grinned broadly at him and tweaked the hat a little. "It's all yours!"

Blaine blushed as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

Before he could say anything else, Mr. Schue came in and started their rehearsal. Blaine occasionally pulled on the hat, making sure his hair was secured underneath and not poking free. Between that and the pain in his eye, he couldn't keep up as well as he usually would. By the time glee was over for the day, he had already decided to make a trip to his doctor's.

All he wanted to do those was go home and have his Skype date…

~0~

The sun was already starting to set when Blaine finally pulled into his empty driveway. He was glad his parents were out for the week. He really didn't want to deal with their questions and everything else tonight. All he wanted to do was shower and crawl in bed and—

"Damn it!" He looked down at the clock on his dashboard. He only had about thirty minutes until his Skype date with Kurt! He had completely lost track of time. The doctor's office had been fairly busy for a Friday, something Blaine had not anticipated. The nurse had decided his eye definitely needed to be looked at, but that it wasn't serious enough to push him up in front of patients with actual appointments. So he had sat for nearly two hours waiting until the doctor finally called him back to the exam room.

His eye had been inflamed, but not scratched this time. The scar tissue had been aggravate and wouldn't feel great for a few days. Thankfully nothing that some eye drops and wash couldn't take care of. Unfortunately that had meant a trip to the pharmacy, which had also been extremely busy for a Friday. Between waiting in the packed doctor's office and long line at the pharmacy, all Blaine wanted to do was take a long hot shower and crawl into bed.

But he also wanted to talk to Kurt…

So he knew he would have to settle on a quick shower instead. He hurried into his darkened house and upstairs to his room, only stumbling on the stairs once in his haste. In his room, he grabbed his laptop from his desk and set it up on his bed. He let it load and logged into Skype as he started to undress. He made sure to leave Sam's shirt out so that he could wash it and return it.

He then took as quick of a shower as possible. He knew that he only had a few more minutes before Kurt would come online and start looking for him. As he was washing his hair, he realized he wouldn't have time to gel it down. For once, he didn't care. He just wanted to see Kurt.

With that in mind, he hopped out of the shower and dried off as fast as he could. He made sure not to run the towel through his hair too much, not wanting to make it as fluffy as it had been earlier. But when he looked in the mirror he knew it wasn't going to make much of a difference. The curls were already starting to poof up and out. He would just deal with it later.

"Blaine? You there?" Kurt's voice came through the laptop speakers as Blaine stepped back into his bedroom.

"I'm coming!" Blaine yelled, tripping on his sweatpants and stumbling over to his bed. He ran a hair through his hair in hopes of taming it a bit. He flopped down onto his bed, nearly upsetting the laptop in the process. But it didn't matter. Kurt's face was smiling up at him, looking mildly amused and confused. "Hi." Blaine's face lit up with the first real smile he had had all day.

"Well hello," Kurt greeted. "Was beginning to wonder where you were."

"Yeah, was running late and really needed a shower before I saw you. Sorry." Blaine pulled the blankets up over his legs and adjusted the laptop.

"Oh ok…explains the lack of product." Kurt winked and smiled. "Did someone lose track of time in the gym again?"

"Um…no," Blaine admitted sheepishly. "Someone else decided I deserved a slushie shower this afternoon and-"

"They what?" Kurt exclaimed. "Oh my God, honey! Are you ok? I'm sorry I was teasing you! Oh God! Your eye! You should go see-"

"I already did, Kurt. That's why I was so late."

"And?"

"I'm fine. My eye is a little irritated but nothing that some drops won't fix."

"I'm sorry, Blaine. Slushies at school are the worst!"

"I got that. Will definitely have to remember to stick some spare clothes and gel in my locker Monday."

"Oh Blaine! You must have been miserable!"

"Let's just say that I never want to forget my gel before school…"

"Blaine, you look fine without your gel! You know I love your bushy hair just the way it is. I love you just the way you are."

Blaine smiled once more. "Love you too. But can we change the subject? I'm kind of sick of talking about my hair today."

With that, the two of them launched into conversations about what was going on at McKinley and in New York. It relaxed Blaine and took his mind off of everything that had happened. It was a nice end to an otherwise frustrating day.

~0~

The doorbell interrupted Blaine's Saturday afternoon movie marathon. After everything that had happened the previous day, he felt like spending his weekend alone with some of his favorite movies and lots of junk food.

He opened the door to see a UPS man holding a rather large package. "Hi," Blaine greeted.

"Blaine Anderson?" the guy replied. Blaine nodded slowly, not sure what he would be receiving at this time of the day. "Sign here sir." Blaine quickly signed the papers and took the package with a thanks.

Once inside, he took the package into the kitchen and grabbed a knife to cut into it. A gloriously sweet smell wafted up as soon as the box was open. Inside, Blaine found a batch of homemade cookies with a note attached to them.

_I know how much these make you feel better. Thought you deserved them after yesterday ~Kurt_

Blaine's heart melted a little. He removed the plastic covering them and snagged one of the chocolate cookies, moaning at the wonderful taste. He set the rest of them to the side and pulled out the next item in the box. It was a picture of Kurt and Blaine dancing at prom last year with another note attached to the frame.

_To remind you just how beautiful you are, gel or no gel ~Kurt_

Blaine shook his head but couldn't help but smile. The picture joined the batch of cookies so that he could dig back into the box for the rest of the items. He pulled out a dark green cashmere sweater that was safely tucked into a plastic zipper bag.

_Was saving this for Christmas but thought you could use it to replace the slushie covered one. Plus it will look amazing with your eyes 3 ~Kurt_

The last item in the box was the biggest. It was a wooden box with a delicate design carved into it. Blaine carefully opened it, finding another note attached to the inside of the lid and a plethora of hair care products, including his favorite brand of gel and shampoo, secured inside it.

_Keep this in your locker in case any of those imbeciles ever slushie you again. Love you! ~Kurt_

Blaine couldn't stop grinning like a loon. He placed the box back onto the table and grabbed the cookies. He made his way back to the living room and plopped down onto the couch. He grabbed his phone from in between the cushions and quickly dialed Kurt's number.

"_Hello?"_

Blaine melted into the cushions and nibbled on a cookie. "I love you so much."


End file.
